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The Lagoon (Cinnamon Grand)

The Lagoon is a fine dining seafood restaurant located in Colombo's Cinnamon Grand Hotel. Freshly caught seafood is displayed upon a bed of ice and can be chosen with the preferred style of preparation and sides. It's very good, and very expensive.

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The Lagoon is Cinnamon Grand's riff on aseafood restaurant. They offer an excellent selection of fresh seafood, along with the option of choosing how you want each element prepared. They serve up some high quality dishes along with top-notch service, but none of this comes cheap.

The Seafood

From Mount Lavinia to Fort, Colombo has no shortage of seafood restaurants at drastically varying price points. With so much competition, it takes a lot to be considered among the upper echelon, which is where The Lagoon would be placed by most, along with Seafood Cove and The Ocean. However, it also finds itself in the top bracket when it comes to pricing. The cost per head generally comes to approximately Rs. 2,500-Rs. 3,000, if not more.

This time around, we went for a slightly different approach. We tried to limit the damage to Rs. 2,000 per head with a group of six diners. In most restaurants, this would be fairly straightforward. But The Lagoon's method of picking out seafood from the central display and pricing it depending on weight, makes it a bit arduous.

While their mains are definitely on the higher-end of the price
spectrum, their starters are priced quite reasonably in comparison. The 12-piece sushi platter (Rs. 1,200) was certainly value for money, with a respectable array of maki, uramaki (inverted maki), salmon nigiri and ebi nigiri, along with a bit of salad and soy sauce. What really shone through in this dish was the quality of the seafood, which tasted incredibly fresh. We were also impressed with the overall construction and presentation of the sushi given the fact that Lagoon isn't a Japanese restaurant. Our only minor quibble was that there wasn't quite enough wasabi in the sushi, which mean we had to add it separately.

Spring rolls aren't very complex. Even so, we couldn't find fault with Lagoon's prawn spring rolls (Rs. 600), which were substantial, crisp and well-seasoned. The prawn inside was cooked perfectly with just the slightest bite, which helped maintain the structure of the spring roll when you bit into it.

The smoked seer (Rs. 600) was also enjoyable for the most part. It was a tad on the dry side, but that's if we were being very critical. The portion wasn't particular large, although it was a decent starter portion for two. The seer was evenly cooked with just the right amount of smokiness. It was, however, a bit heavy on the pepper so it may not be to everyone's tastes.

After some mental math, we finally came around to our mains. We started off with the quintessential hot butter cuttlefish (Rs. 535 per 100g). The portion you see above was roughly 150g, which came to a reasonable Rs. 800. The dish itself was excellent, with a thin and crisp, almost crackling-like batter — a welcome change from the norm. It was also quite robustly seasoned, with a good degree of saltiness and spice.

We also tried the Singapore chilli-style crab meat (Rs. 535 per 100g). This turned out be one of the best dishes of the night. The beauty of this dish was that it negated the biggest issue I have with eating crab outside of home: the mess that ensues from having to get through the shell. In this case, the crab meat was shaped into small, lightly-fried balls cooked in Singapore chilli sauce. The thick sauce clung to the crab meat and brought in a good mix of sweet and spicy flavours.

The white curry prawns (Rs. 580 per 100g), in contrast, was a letdown. First, we were quite disappointed to find that the cooked portion was far less than the initial weight. (Perhaps that's something we should have anticipated). Second, the curry itself was bland, besides the flavour from the curry leaves. A white curry is supposed to be light on spice, but this one was simply lacking seasoning.

Unfortunately, the steamed garupa (Rs. 440 per 100g) also fell into the same boat (no pun intended) as the prawns. It was fresh like the rest of the seafood we tried, but once the head and the bones were removed, what we were left with was a pretty measly portion. This was a shame since the fish was cooked very well with acidity from lime, chilli and garlic.

Ambience

The Lagoon is, without a doubt, one of the better-looking seafood restaurants in Colombo. The decor is simple yet sophisticated, with the fresh seafood station acting as the centrepiece of the restaurant. You could consider it an upscale take on a fish market.

Service at The Lagoon was exceptional on all fronts. All the waiters were polite and knowledgeable, with at least two of them always around to attend to tables. Even when it came to selecting seafood, there was one waiter to advise us on how to pair our seafood with the preparations. All in all, we left thoroughly impressed with the level of service we received.

Conclusion

While difficult, it is possible to spend Rs. 2,000 per head at the Lagoon and enjoy a wholesome meal, provided you steer clear of lobster (and have a fairly large group). Not all the dishes were pitch perfect, but we still feel that Lagoon is right up there with the best.

TIP

Don't get overwhelmed by the ordering options. Have a plan and stick to it.

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iro

Now this is one rating I'm highly disappointed about. This is the best sea food restaurant in Sri Lanka. None of the dishes has ever disappointed me. You can't Judge a place by just few dishes that you order in a very sloppy manner. And compared to other sea food restaurants in Sri Lanka like The Ocean at The kingsbury (copy of lagoon) price here is very reasonable. It doesn't bankrupt you unless of course if you order lobster for your main course. And its nice that they give few chocolates complementary with the bill. IF ministry of crabs get 5 stars, this place deserves even more.

Sachi

Noooo not for a date night ! It gets crowded and way too noisy for that ! Unless you sit outside, but if it looks like it's going to rain, they won't let you sit outside. Perfect to go with a crowd though.

AnotherIndi

This is one place you cant go wrong! I have been visiting here for more than six years and hasnt ever disappointed me. Most dishes are in par with world class restaurants. Heard chef sudu is leaving lagoon. Anyways try the crabmeat in kerala curry one of my favourites!

FishFingers

not really sold on this place - as Shru says, the food is excellent, but for the price you pay the service has been pretty shoddy on the three occasions (with different sized groups) I've been. difficult to get a waiter's attention and long long wait for the bill - leaves a bit of bad taste when you're splashing out for a big event as we were.

Cb

Food was really good. Choose your dishes wisely to be satisfied with the bill. Ask for help when deciding ur dishes. Friendly customer service. Price as well as PR is to the expected standard in a five start hotel. Sit outside if your taking a date as it becomes noisy when it gets crowded inside. Overall excellent.

Marha

GW

For an Island surrounded by the Ocean i found the seafood selection to be mediocre in many places and the preparation not up-to par, However after visiting the Lagoon and seeing the vast array of seafood on display i was ecstatic .This is a place for a seafood connoisseur to really indulge in picking your own fish and having it prepared the way you want it. With Seafood ,simplicity is best way to really enjoy the true flavor of each dish without smothering it with thick sauces that drown the flavor of fresh fish. At the Lagoon you have to know what you want and how you want it, thats the key. Great Place.

Moshtaq

Yes malli, I'm totally agree with you. But I saw smtioheng valuable there. That is those students are more keen to learn / touch IT. They have a very good passion for ICT.But I don't know how we can overcome the problems you have mentioned. Because we got more than 45 min.s to explain what is a web site. How crutial !!!! Any way All the roses should goes to the Students of Faculty of Applied Science. They did great job for the students in their area.

Arosha

Girlinagirdle

Mediocre at best. Choice of sauces are pedestrian and poorly executed compared to other restaurants. Wine badly kept and over-priced. The atmosphere is horrendous; stark lights, unruly children and people who don't know how to behave. The staff are adorable however and the Jaffna crab curry is delicious. Another not-quite-there-compared-to-everywhere-else-restaurant that proliferates Colombo's dining scene.